Vandana Singh | Ruminations in an Alien Tongue

When the ship’s scanners first chirped in the dead of night, Sien figured it was another misfire: light reflecting off asteroid ice, solar radiation, space dust. But xe still slid from xir berth into the chilly, cramped cockpit, eyes bleary. © 2023 by A.L. Goldfuss | Narrated by Paul Boehmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Okt 20231h 10min

The house was on the same street as a bakery whose only offering was penis-shaped waffles. Rufaro didn’t like American houses very much. They looked paper thin like doll houses that would lift off into the clouds if a strong wind came by. | © 2023 by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu. | Narrated by Christina Ogunade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Sep 202343min

“I lined up a new gig for you,” said the Glovemaster. “All you have to do is protect one special guy.” I sat in my trailer with my Bluetooth headphones on and my laptop perched on an Amazon box. I wore a boonie hat with a militia logo. | © 2023 by John Kessel & Bruce Sterling. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Sep 20231h 13min

Dr. Nirwater Leera only agreed to study Mr. Girat because he is supposed to be dead. Tomorrow, they will meet in person for the first time. But today, Leera wastes time by staring at a cellophane bag full of Girat’s vomit. | © 2023 by Lowry Poletti. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Aug 202349min

The soldiers slit the woman’s throat every evening before bedding down so they can sleep without worry. She mocks them but never fights the knife coming to her. Two of the men still take turns watching her in case she heals before the rest of the cadre wakes. | © 2023 by Sloane Leong. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Aug 202349min

Muna shuts the storeroom door as quietly as she can. Holding a just-waxed bundle of letters to her chest, she sticks out her head to check the bookshop floor. If she walks between the shelves on the far right, she can slip out unnoticed in ten heartbeats. The main door of the bookshop is propped open, the sun shining after what feels like a year of sodden clouds and sludged streets---she can’t wait to feel its warmth on her skin. | © 2023 by Isha Karki. Narrated by Janina Edwards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Juli 202358min

I need a binge-worthy banger about the incident on Titan. Let’s start with that one picture from Titan that leaked, the one of the weird fishes in those underwater ruins dying. Let’s get going with a second-person narration of You looking at it, thinking about how extinction just happened, and your hands are trembling, and history---your memories of all the tragedies and scandals past---informs you that everyone will forget about it in a few weeks. Insert some beefy workplace drama in the background. | © 2023 by JB Park, Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Juli 202315min

Call me Philoctetes. My real name doesn’t matter, and I wouldn’t be allowed to tell you what it is, anyway. Security concerns, you understand. What you need to know about me is that I was a US Army Green Beret---one of the Quiet Professionals. Usually tasked with working with the locals in counterinsurgency efforts and the like. The stuff that doesn’t---or shouldn’t---make the newspapers. | © 2023 Deborah L. Davitt. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Juni 202339min